Bible Study: ADAM, JESUS (and the rest of us)
by The Righterzpen
Summary: This is a comparative study: How are we similar to each other - and how are we different? (Here's my best crack at explaining the incarnation, the atonement and how indwelling of the Holy Spirit profoundly changes New Testament believers.)
1. Adam and Eve

**ADAM, JESUS (and the rest of us).**

 _This study is about similarities and differences between Adam, Jesus and believers pre and post Pentecost. Information about the fall, the incarnation, the atonement and the nature of Jesus's personhood will be covered._

* * *

 **Adam and Eve:**

Adam and Eve were created in the image of God on the 6th day of creation. They were created as adults with all their intellectual capacities intact. They were also created as independent moral agents who'd remain in a state of innocence, so long as they didn't disobey God.

The first command given them (which was given to all creation) was to "be fruitful and multiply". This command was likely engaged in fairly soon after being created. We know no children were born before the fall, but if one was conceived before the fall; we are never told, but that is a possibility.

The second command given to them, was to keep and care for the garden. (Genesis 2:15) Entailed in this command, they were to protect the garden from invaders; but since there was no direct instruction as to what to do, it was left to their discretion to make that decision. So as soon as the serpent showed up; at the very least they should have notified God.

The third command - which since they didn't obey the second one; is the one that "got them". This was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Well we all know what happened there!)

 _ **Mode of Revelation:**_

Adam and Eve had direct access to God. Anything they wanted to know; all they had to do was ask. There was no written Scripture at that time, so any revelation they received was of direct communication. It seems likely too that both had equal access to God, because the declaration that Eve's "desire would be toward her husband and he shall rule over her" didn't come until after the fall.

Now Adam and Eve were still capable of doing something that offended God, they were just not aware of this until they'd been given commands. Yet if given a command because they'd displeased God, so long as they obeyed, they remained in a state of innocence.

Even if they hadn't eaten the fruit of the forbidden tree, eventually they would have been given a command they would have disobeyed. Their disobedience was inevitable and predictable. God knew this (because He's omniscient) and had made plans to compensate for this reality before creation was ever commenced.

Even so, they'd both been given a "free will"; meaning their ability to make decisions wasn't encumbered by knowledge of sin, or a corrupted nature that came about as a result of willful disobedience. Eve was the first one to eat the fruit, yet note that they were not made aware of their disobedience, nor were they expelled from the garden until Adam ate the fruit. Later on, 1 Timothy 2:14 explains that Eve was deceived, but Adam was not. Even though she'd done something she knew she wasn't suppose to; that was still not considered "willful disobedience" because she was deceived.

 _ **Consequence of knowledge of good and evil:**_

Now if she alone, or she with Adam had gone to God and said: "I screwed up." They probably would have received further instruction as to how they'd failed in protecting their garden and so long as they continued to obey; they would have remained there. Now would she have been considered "corrupted" at that point is a good question.

Either way, the lesson this presented to both Adam and Eve was that they were fallible. They could not "be God" even in possessing the knowledge of good and evil because they as created creatures, were fundamentally different in nature than God. They weren't omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent or eternal and gaining the knowledge of good and evil would not have made them so. Now the stipulation that they would be "like God knowing both good and evil" was technically true; but knowledge of good and evil does not give you these other 4 attributes of God's Being.

Now apparently Adam knew this. Did Eve? Ironically, the text in Genesis says Eve desired the fruit because she wanted to be wise. (Wise like unto God; not realizing this knowledge would corrupt her on account of the fact that her nature was fundamentally different than God's.) And this is where she was deceived because she may not have intended that the obtaining of that knowledge was to make her omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent or eternal. She wanted God's wisdom, not necessarily His attributes; but this tree was not the "tree of the wisdom of good and evil" it was the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". And here is how she was truly deceived because wisdom (Godly wisdom) is derived from these other attributes of God, not simply from the knowledge of good and evil.

 _ **Could Adam and Eve obtain knowledge of good and evil without it corrupting them?**_

No they couldn't. And the reason for this is because they were not instilled with a Divine nature. And being instilled with a Divine nature is what made Jesus fundamentally different than Adam.

Now because having been the first humans created, Adam and Eve could not have been instilled with a Divine nature because life had to exist before a Redeemer could be incarnated. And since the command to "be fruitful and multiply" had predated the eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the incarnation did not take place on the front end of creation's time table.

Theoretically, it could have. God would had to have reversed the instructions given to Adam and Eve and the Redeemer would have had to have been born before Adam and Eve's relationship was consummated. Also, theoretically, God could have chosen any of Eve's daughters at any point in the unfolding of time. God though chose and planned on waiting until a considerable amount of time had transpired for the intent of bringing revelation to humanity about their state as fallen creatures, their need for redemption, and how this was going to unfold.


	2. Jesus Christ

**Jesus Christ**

 _Now this next segment gets complicated and a bit long. I'll do my best to make it as understandable as possible; because there is a lot of information here._

* * *

 _ **Incarnation:**_

Here we move on to what the incarnation actually was and the difference between Adam and Jesus. Now we know Jesus had a Divine nature and Adam did not. Jesus obtained that Divine nature because of being conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Christ's body was formed essentially by "rearranging" Mary's DNA. And because this was an act of the Holy Spirit, there was no other possible outcome other than the child conceived was to have a Divine nature. Now because it was the Holy Spirit who performed this task, the Divine nature was inseparably merged to the human nature, creating a human being who had both a Divine nature and a human nature. This is how Jesus was both fully God and fully man. (The Spirit is "fully God" and Mary was "fully human".)

 _Now one important thing to note is that the sin nature is passed from father to child, not mother to child. So theoretically speaking, if you could conceive a chid without a father, (even if the mother is a sinner) that child would be sinless. Now that obviously is impossible to do; even if it wasn't though (oogenesis) that child still would not have a Divine nature._

 _That child would simply be a 'second Adam' (or actually a second Eve - because in the natural world all organisms who come about as a result of oogenesis are female. This can happen with species like frogs and salamanders where non fertilized eggs mature into sterile female organisms.) So, this girl would still fall into the trap the first Adam had, because we live in a world corrupted by evil._

 _Now the difference between our current world and the world Adam and Eve existed in prior to the fall; is that evil existed in their world, they just had no knowledge of it. Once they disobeyed and gave knowledge to it; they also gave it the reign to corrupt the creation. The most obvious result of which was death. (All the sudden some of the animals started eating each other instead of the plants.)_

The incarnation was the merging of these two (Divine and human) natures. Because Jesus was born of the progeny of Adam, what he'd inherited from his mother was a human nature in the same similitude as Adam, except without sin.

 _ **What are we made up of?**_

When a human being is conceived, the totality of their beginning is their conception. We inherit "soul", "body" and "spirit" from our parents and because Adam's personhood was created as "being in the image of God"; we inherit "being created in the image of God" from our parents. Thus why human souls are fundamentally different than the "soul" of any other created individual organism. The only thing we receive from God at conception is the breath of life, which is what makes us "living souls". (Genesis 2:7)

Now how do we know "body", "soul" and "spirit" are inherited from our human parents and some (portion there of) not from God? This is hard to tell from just looking at Adam; but becomes quite clear when we start looking at Jesus and what happened during the atonement.

 **What is a human nature?**

 _ **Soul:**_

So a "soul" is also what's referred to as a "heart" in the Scripture. The heart is what houses emotions, which impact mind and will. Now the mind can also be trained to reign in the emotions, which also affects the will. This is how human beings are accountable for their actions. We aren't just creatures ruled by impact of emotional fluctuations. Our thoughts are capable of impacting our emotions.

This of course does not mean that every circumstance we can encounter that affects the soul can be "mind over matter". 98% of human beings that survive a traumatic event will exhibit acute PTSD symptoms at some point or another. (Animals experience this too; most obviously noted in domesticated animals such as dogs and cats and especially dogs that perform service work such as police dogs and search and rescue.)

Acute PTSD symptom onset, most often occurs within 6 months of the end of the trauma. Now whether PTSD becomes chronic or not, depends on many other factors; but the initial reaction to a trauma is nearly a universal experience. The most common symptoms are intrusive memories, nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety and depression. For a multitude of reasons, apparently God has created sentient life that it would have this kind of reaction.

So, for all those who cope with this reality; be of comfort that God most likely understands the experience. Jesus walked the earth some 40 days after being raised from the dead and obviously he remembered being crucified. So I would not be surprised if he exhibited acute PTSD symptoms also, since it is such a common human experience. Now what he did with those memories and how he dealt with them is another question altogether; but rest assured they were definitely there.

 _ **Spirit:**_

We also have a "spirit" though. This is the portion of our personhood that houses the conscience as well as awareness of God and our being made in His image. Being made in God's image is what gives man self awareness and the ability to question his purpose as it relates to God's existence. No other species of carbon based life has this dimension to their "spirit" (self awareness).

Although other animals do have the capacity to learn behavior that appears to humans to exhibit moral principles such as gratitude, and although they may genuinely "feel" the associated emotion, they lack the self awareness and sophistication of language to understand how they relate to God. This is true despite the fact that on some level they are still "aware" of the existence of a Creator. So, because of this aspect of "spirit"; being created in the image of God, is what makes man "religious"; even though some claim they aren't "religious" but "spiritual" (Same difference in the unregenerate state.) This is also inherited from our parents.

 _ **Body:**_

Lastly, obviously we have "bodies"; the main engine of which runs our bodies is our brains. A body can not function without a brain, which is the organ that runs all the other systems. A brain though also is what is responsible for the neurological impulses that thoughts are composed of; whereas emotions on the other hand are the byproduct of chemical reactions in the brain. The mechanism responsible for the senses, is connected to both neurological and chemical systems. Thus why sensory information is capable of producing emotions as well as cognitive "fight or flight" response.

Now it is evident that non human life also has "body", "soul" and "spirit". Scripture tells us that man is not the only creature aware of the existence of the Creator. (Romans 8:19-20) This is the "spirit" essence of life. And obviously other mammals have "emotion" / instinct that impacts their cognitive processes, thus impacting their behavior.

 **Role of the breath of life:**

Now the breath of life is given to "all flesh" that is alive. (Genesis 7:15) On the surface this doesn't appear to include plants; but I think Job 33:4 further defines being given life, comes from "the breath of life". This I believe, is the definition of "life"; and since we consider plants as being "life forms"; this would also include them.

This is the fundamental difference between life and artificial intelligence. As smart as my computer may get; it is not "alive" and never will be. Now obviously there are other things in God's creation that are made up of "non-living" material. Yet the creation of life involved investment on God's part in the giving of the breath of life to make things "alive". And this is why God is constantly "invested" in this creation.

So what does the breath of life actually do? It makes organisms "living souls". So we know that the breath of life isn't just what makes an organism alive, it's also an integral part of the "soul". And apparently without a "soul" life ends.

Now is the "spirit" a part of the "soul" or actually a different thing? That's a good question. Some would say they are the same thing (or integrally connected) But I would say that on account of what we can glean from the experience of Jesus and his enduring the atonement, that the soul and spirit are different entities.

 **The "four" parts of Jesus:**

Now it's interesting to note that "body", "soul" and "spirit" are three components of a whole personhood, that just like the Godhead is/are "triune" in nature. This "trinity" is what made up the humanity of Jesus and the fact of being conceived by the Spirit (that is wholly God) is what made Jesus's Divinity "wholly God" also.

Yet since God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent as well as eternal, this division of "Father", "Son" and "Spirit" is what exhibits God as Triune; especially when we consider the incarnation. There is obviously the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent as well as eternal entity of "God", (Father) still running the creation while the Son (who's Divine aspects are masked by his humanity) is walking the earth in the flesh. The other aspect of God at work in the creation is the Spirit.

The Spirit affects other life; in that because of the "spirit" nature of the Spirit; He is capable of impacting other entities through the vehicle of their "spirit". This appears to be the mechanism by which God governs and directs the creation.

 _Short side track here on life that is not "carbon based". Now obviously we know there are life forms God created that do not have bodies. Some of these are referred to as "angels" and "beasts". Question that comes to mind though, is if "the breath of life" is what makes "life" alive (rather obviously with carbon based life); does this mean these other types of entities are not actually "alive"; (or at least not "alive" by carbon based life's definition of "alive" - i.e. contains "the breath of life")?_

 _That's a good question; because we know certain types of angels are not "alive" any longer by very nature of what they'd been. (They are deceased saints who are still awaiting the final resurrection.) So does this mean that the "non-deceased saint" type of angel as well as other "beast" entities are technically not "alive"? I don't know._

 _One thing we do know about these entities is that because "the breath of life" is given to "all flesh" and they have no flesh; this could be the reason why they are "outside" of the redemption plan? These types of angels who disobey God, have no possibility to be atoned for; yet ones who have remained obedient will be part of the new heavens and new earth and at that point, just like the rest of the renewed creation, will have "lost" the ability to be corrupted. Are there angels who've fallen since the fall? I don't know; but I do know the new heavens and new earth will be incorruptible, because the corruptible aspect of the current world was dealt with as part of the atonement._

Any how - back to Jesus:

So, whereas the first Adam had a "triune" personhood; the last Adam had a Divine nature inseparably merged to that "triune" personhood.

 **So what did it mean to be incarnated in the likeness of the first Adam?**

Obviously Jesus had a "body". (A brain that ran the rest of the other body systems, including neurological impulses that were the mechanism of his ability to think and perform tasks of locomotion. The other thing I would add here is respiration; seeing how that is not endocrine based, but is executed upon by the brain stem. This also includes other homeostatic functions; heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, as well as his immune system.)

"Thought", "movement", "regulation" - another "trinity".

He had a "soul". (A series of chemical reactions in the brain (also impacting the body) that made up (his) emotions, run by the mechanism of the endocrine system.) This also would include enzymes, hormones and "neurotransmitters"; all of which impact "mood". (Some neurotransmitters are not actually hormonally based.) These systems are so interconnected to the "body" that without some of these enzymes, hormones and neurotransmitters a body (Jesus included) would not survive. This is how we (all) are body with a soul; yet both body and soul operate in the physical realm.

All of this also includes senses that interact with both systems, which are connected to functions of biological drives like processing intake and excretion of water and fuel, restoration, repair and resetting of body and thought systems (purpose in the need for sleep) and "social drive" which ranges from "stranger to stranger social interaction" to "conception of children" behavior. Jesus could not have survived without these systems being fully intact either.

"Drives": (hunger, sleep, "sex") - another "trinity".

He had a "spirit" that like the first Adam, gave him a fundamentally human conscience, awareness of God and being created in HIs image.

"Conscience" - (moral, God awareness, self awareness).

All of this composed his humanity.

So when we read the Bible and see things Jesus did, said and how he behaved that give us insights into his internal process; we see that on the surface (with the exception of lack of obviously immoral behavior) he doesn't seem much different than other humans. We see a need for physical care (food, clothing and shelter); biological realities to contend with (bathing, bathroom, illness and injury); social construct (family, friends and society); full range of emotional affect and interest in the spiritual aspect of our existence.

Now the question of how lack of sin combined with a Divine nature impacts this picture? This gets really interesting as we get closer and closer to his death, because we see behavioral manifestations that look like "a major depressive episode" and "panic attacks". Obvious lack of sleep coupled with extreme stress and we see Jesus starts to come unglued emotionally. His cognition remains generally intact though, despite the effects this stress is having on his body. He also remains morally intact.

So what does sin seem to impact the most? The decisions we make in regards to behavior once our emotions (souls) are affected by stress; (yet keeping in mind that we have a nature that's been corrupted by the fall. This makes sin the most likely outcome.) In the case of Jesus having a Divine nature, as well as uncorrupted human nature; was this what kept him (or even made it "impossible") for him to sin? I think the answer to that question might have been both "yes" and "no".

"Yes", in the sense that so long as Jesus (the human) remained "in possession" of that Divine nature; his Divinity kept him from any desire to disobey. Not that he wasn't affected by the physical and emotional ramifications of what ever he was enduring. In the 40 days in the wilderness; Jesus actually came as close as he could to dying of starvation. Yet he was willing to forfeit his life in order to remain obedient and this is how and why he passed that test.

"No", though in the sense that as His Divinity was being severed from his humanity, he more and more bore the potential to sin. (This separation was how the atonement (wrath of God) was enacted upon Jesus.) This severance of these two natures though is ultimately what killed Jesus. Because he'd been created as one entity with the merging of these two natures; the only possible result of severing these natures was the destruction of his personhood. I'll cover this more later, when I get to the atonement.

 _ **Now what about Jesus having a Divine nature made him fundamentally different than Adam?**_

The cleaving of these two natures into one being, gave Jesus internal access Adam didn't have. Anything concerning God and "knowledge" or "wisdom" of God that Adam possessed, came from outside of Adam. Jesus on the other hand, anything concerning God (knowledge and wisdom) came internally; even though Jesus still had to "learn" it.

This arrangement closely resembles a post Pentecost believer's experience of being "born of the Spirit". When anyone is regenerated after the Spirit is poured out; the Spirit has inseparably enjoned Himself to that individual's personhood. God is "cleaved" to a believer in similar way as the two natures in Jesus were cleaved together. One obvious difference between Jesus and a believer is that the corrupted nature of the first Adam still exists as part of the believer's personhood, because they are the seed of Adam and not conceived by the Holy Spirit. Also too, until the new heavens and new earth come into existence; the believer will always deal with the residual effects of living in a corrupted state.

Now this Divine nature certainly gave Jesus a particular advantage over Adam, in that this Divine nature cleaved to an uncorrupted human nature made Jesus "incorruptible"; so long as he was "in possession" of both those natures. The Divinity kept the uncorrupted human nature in tact, by reason of the Divinity's own nature; i.e. being omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and eternal.

The first chapter of John talks about "in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehends it not". The end of that phrase in the Greek actually tells us that the darkness seeks not to snatch up that light. Now the reason it seeks not to snatch up that light, is because it can't and it can't because that light is God Himself.

Remember back in Genesis, God created a creation and as a byproduct of that act, "evil" comes into reality. (See: Theory on the Origin of Evil) Evil was capable of corrupting that creation, because the "creature" created in God's image (Adam and Eve) was not omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent or eternal.

So here in due time comes this human entity who possesses omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence and eternity by nature of being directly Divinely conceived. So now this darkness "seeks" not to snatch up that light because it can't. It's certainly going to try, via the vehicle of Jesus's humanity; but this does not work on Jesus as it worked on Adam, because of the differences in the totality of their natures.

Now in order to be an appropriate sacrifice, Jesus could not be different than Adam in his human nature (and he wasn't). Yet this theoretical opposite of God that came into existence upon the commencement of creation; (evil) could not overcome the fact that God planned on becoming part of His creation.

And of course God being omnipotent had the power to do that, the wisdom to pull it off (omniscience), the the presence to not lose control of any of it, and the eternity wherewith to execute the plan. And because this is what God planned to do, this is why He creates a creature in His image (i.e. man).

Now since the creation was made by the entire Godhead, through the power God possessed (each member of the Trinity having their own role); this is why Jesus is incarnated in the likeness of Adam, because Adam was created in the image of God; (the image of God obviously including the second Person of the Godhead). Now the incarnation of God could not be different than Adam, but in that sense, it also meant that he could be "more" than Adam.

 _ **So this is how Jesus was differnt than Adam, now how was he the same?**_

Now we know Jesus had a human nature and we already covered what a human nature consists of. Now how did this Divine nature exist in this human entity in a temporal world?

The humanity of Jesus, by the very nature of what it/he is as a created entity, "masks" the Divinity. So we see Jesus the human being is not omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent or eternal. This is why Jesus says: "I can do nothing unless it is given to me of the Father." Jesus the human ("in possession" of this Divine nature), was acting in concert with the other two persons of the Godhead. Agreeing to become part of the creation involved relinquishing these Divine attributes. This is why Jesus had to learn what he possessed; of which, even through the duration of his time on earth, the full extent of the experience of being God, he probably wasn't even aware of. Matter of fact, he couldn't have been, on account of the temporal nature of his humanity, prevented that experiential awareness. The flip side of this coin, is that creation itself can't "contain" God because of it's limits of omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence and eternity.

 **Mode of Revelation:**

Now because Jesus was incarnated in the likeness of the first Adam with the intent that he/He would be the sacrifice for sin; he bore no obvious advantage over Adam and this is why his Divinity was veiled by his humanity. Although the Divine nature still bore the attributes of God (omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence and eternal) the limitations of his mortal body veiled these things from both the rest of humanity as well as Jesus's own awareness; until the rightful appointed time. As the first Adam received revelation (direct communication) - so did Jesus.

Now we know that at least by the age of 12, Jesus was aware of who and what he/He was. He had general understanding of what his/His purpose was, although he continued to learn throughout the course of his life the details of the plan. This is one of the aspects that made him an appropriate sacrifice in the likeness of Adam, in that he was not omniscient in the flesh.

Knowledge Jesus obtained was confined by what the Father was willing to reveal, both in direct revelation and through the Scriptures. That being said, there was information that the Father withheld from Jesus. (I.E. Jesus had no idea when judgement day was going to happen; even though I'm sure he asked the Father that question specifically.)

 **Principle of the Progression of Revelation:**

Revelation is a progressive thing. The Scriptures tell us "knowledge will increase" and this knowledge spans a variety of venues. Knowledge related to the operation of creation has increased, but so has knowledge related to spiritual truth.

Now although there are things our ancestors could do that have either taken us 2000 years to figure out; (like how the Romans invented concrete) and in some cases we still don't know (how'd they build the pyramids?); there is no denying we have a totality of knowledge in this modern era, that humanity has never possessed at any other point in time.

Man never before possessed the technology or ability to put satellites in space. He's never before possessed the ability to build airplanes, mass transit, or infrastructure that supports the dispersement of energy, water and food. He's never before understood the mechanisms that cause common diseases and be able to cure those. (Antibiotics - medical technology that can save lives and actually put people back together post severe trauma.) All of this has come about as a result of the increase of knowledge as to how creation is actually constructed. This gives us tremendous advantages over any other generation in past history.

Besides increase in knowledge of the physical world; we also have increase in knowledge of spiritual truth. And because of our technology, we have access to spiritual truth on a level that no generation in history past has _**ever**_ had. I can get on the Internet and look up every single place in the Hebrew Scripture where the word "faith" is used and I can learn and access truth that way. I'll talk about indwelling Holy Spirit in a minute; but not even Jesus had that accessibility of being able to acquire knowledge in the material world. Now obviously not having sin, and also having a Divine nature; he had other advantages that we don't.

So yes, Jesus continued to learn truth through out his life; and we see this over the course of his earthly ministry. There are things he knew in the end that he did not know in the beginning. Now the interesting thing about the progression of revelation, is that there are things believers in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit living 2000 years later see as "no brainers"; which to us, we'd assume Jesus knew - yet he may not have actually known as fully as we do.

Perfect example here: Jesus seemed to suffer from a certain degree of Jewish cultural ethnocentric bias. We see this most notably in his interactions with gentiles as he is confronted with them over the course of this 3.5 year ministry. He's often perplexed and amazed by them and the revelation / wisdom that they have. He recognizes this comes from God; yet he seems a little unaware as to why this is? Beyond being created in God's image; which I'm sure Jesus recognized, he seems a little out of touch with the fact that he is also their Redeemer.

 **The Atonement:**

Now here is a subject that can be rather expansive. I'm going to attempt to cover this with adequate explanation, but not exhaustively.

What was the atonement? Where do we start?

The fall created three issues for man:

1\. breaking of fellowship with God.

2\. the issue of God's wrath now had to be addressed

3\. physical death

The atonement addressed these issues:

1\. pouring out of the Holy Spirit as a result of Christ's success - restored fellowship.

2\. the wrath of God was satisfied for those Christ came to atone for.

3\. because Jesus rose from the dead; this is proof there will be a final resurrection.

 _ **Restored fellowship:**_ Because of what Christ had accomplished, restoration of fellowship for believers on the new testament side of the cross is based on a different paradigm than those on the old testament side. I'll explain that more in the next chapter on believers.

 _ **The Wrath of God:**_ To endure the wrath of God means to be eternally separated from Him. Now eternity as defined by God's existence, has no beginning and no end. So, in this sense the sinner condemned to damnation will never get out of that state because he/she is not eternal.

Now because Jesus's personhood was partially made of up a Divine nature, he/He could "outlive" God's wrath. Now he was able to do this because being the whole of God; the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. God's wrath springs out of the aspect of His character that is His holiness. Holiness demands justice, which demands payment for transgression. This is why God "gets angry". The sum of what God is though, is not His wrath and this is how Jesus as being "wholly God" overcame wrath and satisfied the payment for transgression.

Now what actually happened to Jesus in this process? I'll cover that in a minute.

 _ **Physical Death:**_ Death is said to be the last enemy to be overcome. (1 Corinthians 15:26) The proof that Jesus conquered death is obvious because he rose from the dead. (Yeah I know - duh!) Death is the culmination of the wages of sin and in the life of the unregenerate, is followed by the wrath of God.

Now in the order which these things were (or would have been) encountered by Adam (breaking fellowship, physical death, eternal punishment) they were addressed by the atonement in reverse action.

Jesus first addressed the wrath of God. This is alluded to in Jesus's statement about being 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth. This time frame occurred between sundown Tuesday night to roughly 3 PM Friday at the point Jesus died. This is literally 3 / 24 hour periods (3 days and 3 nights). Jesus endured (most of) this experience as (mostly) a complete person in body, soul, spirit and Divinity. This is because those who will be cast into the lake of fire at judgement day, will also endure it as complete people.

Now how was Jesus as God incarnate forsaken by God? Hebrews 10:20 talks about "he has consecrated us through the veil; that is to say his flesh". Now what happened to the veil in the temple? It was rent from top to bottom, which exposed the holy of holies. In the holy of holies was (suppose to be) the ark of the covenant. This is where once a year, blood was to be sprinkled on the mercy seat to atone for sin. This task was performed by the high priest. Christ the eternal high priest sprinkled the mercy seat with his own blood when the veil of his flesh was rent. This happened when the Divine nature was torn from the human nature. Because God can not die; the Divine nature had to be torn from the human nature.

Lastly, Jesus addressed the restoration of fellowship; which that was accomplished by the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Now why did Jesus have to go back to heaven before the Holy Spirit could be poured out? I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is something that fell in terms of a practical application; because the passage that talks about the Spirit not "being sent" (John 16:7) does not imply that it was impossible from God's ability and authority to have incarnate God and indwelling Spirit both present on earth at the same time. The choice not to do that was made by authority of Jesus for what his reasons were. Now we may be able to make an educated guess based on other Scriptures; but the Bible itself does not specifically reveal why. Of which, I've decided not to cover that here, but in the Be Fruitful and Multiply study.

 _ **Atonement Time Table:**_

Daniel 9:27 says "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week and in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease…" Now a lot of Bible commentators ascribe this to a 7 year tribulation. Which is true that this passage ascribes to a tribulation; but that tribulation is (as stated here) "for one week".

BUT - when we start looking at the gospels, we see some interesting things:

1\. We have Mary anointing Jesus's feet "6 days before the Passover". This occurred on the Friday (Thursday after sundown) prior to the sabbath that fell the day before the triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The seventh day would have been the day of the crucifixion.

Verse 24 of Daniel 9 says that "70 weeks are determined upon the people and upon the holy city…." Verse 27 states that this ends on "the consummation". The next time table we are given is "three score and two weeks" (62 weeks). Than another 8 weeks to the consummation. The "consummation" is Pentecost. 70 weeks before that is the death of John the Baptist. 62 weeks from the death of John the Baptist, going toward Pentecost is the Friday before the crucifixion.

This lands us right were we started - 6 days before the Passover with Mary and anointing Jesus's feet. Jesus states (of this event) that "she has reserved this against the day of my burial". This commences what is called in the Scripture "the great tribulation".

2\. Three days later, oil was poured over Jesus's head. He states this is done for his burial. (His burial commenced that night.) 3 days and 3 nights later he's dead. This is the "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth". This event falls on the heels of the last day he spends in the temple teaching. That day, he spent explaining to the people the destruction of the Jewish religion and warned them of future events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem. By the time we get to 70 AD (destruction of the temple) and 93 AD (Herod Agrippa II dies); we have the end of the nation. Jesus also makes some references to judgement day at the end of time; but states that he does not know when that will happen.

3\. Within the context of the discussion of the dismantling of the old testament system and the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus talks about the tribulation. He says that it will be cut short, because if it is not cut short, no flesh would be saved.

So the tribulation commences with Mary anointing Jesus's feet and ends at the Passover. (It's cut short by a little less than a day.) So what happens at the end of the Passover? Jesus is confronted with the angel of death. Exodus says the angel of death will pass through the land at midnight.

 _ **Where is Jesus at midnight? He's in Gethsemane.**_

Now what is Gethsemane? A Gethsemane is a cave that houses an olive press. There were several Gethsemane(s) around the mount of olives because it was an olive grove and this is where they crushed the olives to make oil for the lamps in the temple. Contrary to popular belief "Gethsemane" was not a garden. Jesus was in a garden before he ends up in Gethsemane, but Gethsemane was not a garden. Now they went into this cave to escape the cold, because a lot of people stayed in these caves as lodging during the passover.

So, what happens while Jesus is in this Gethsemane? He's confronted with an angel. (Luke 22:43). Now the English says this angel "strengthens him" but the Greek actually says the angel "shows a display of strength (or force) before (against) him".

 _ **Next question: How is Jesus acting before he encounters this angel and how does he act after?**_

Jesus says "My soul is swallowed up in death…." and just prior to this he becomes "exceedingly sorrowful". This "sorrowfulness" is a process that's been happening for a couple of days now. It started Tuesday night after being "anointed for burial" and becomes progressively worse until the night of Passover.

So if the breath of life is what makes a person "a living soul"; all the angel of death has to do is remove the breath of life and the person dies. Now Jesus is confronted with the angel of death, but he doesn't physically die. Why is this? This is because of his Divine nature. Now if he didn't have a Divine nature, at this point he would have been physically dead; but since the Divine nature has yet to be severed from the human nature, he's still alive. For all intent and purpose though, his soul has been severed from his personhood; reserved in Sheol to await the death of his body. This is where he "preached to spirits in prison". (1 Pete 3:19) Also Acts 2:27 & 31 say "you have not left my soul in hell, nor will suffer your holy one (body) to see decay.

The next event to happen is the arrest, trial, beating, Peter's denial (3 AM), Pilate, Herod, Judas returns money to the temple is told "See too it yourself." Pilate, Barabbas, Pilate washes his hands before the public. Tells the public "See too it yourselves." The people say "Let his blood be on us and our children." (6 to 7 AM), condemnation, Judas goes and hangs himself, flogging, mocking, crucifixion (9 AM), sun darkened (noon), death, veil rent (3 PM), burial (before sundown), Saturday The Sabbath, resurrection (3 AM Sunday morning).

So from the point of the encounter with the angel of death, Jesus's soul is rent from his personhood. He goes through all the following events till just before his death pretty much emotionless.

 _ **The Crucifixion:**_

There are four things recorded that Jesus utters just before he dies, but of those 4 phrases the first one that is quasi comprehendible to anyone witnessing this is "Eli Eli lama sabach thani.". The priests think he's calling Elisha. The second phrase "I thirst." was probably only heard by the soldiers and is stated that he said this because he recognized "all had been accomplished". At that point he's given vinegar and hyssop; (which is a mild sedative); which he drinks. Prior to this he'd been given vinegar and sour wine, which he'd refused.

The next two phrases "Into your hands I commend my spirit" and "It is finished" are recorded for us as interpretations of what is intended, yet to the people witnessing this, it looks like delirious screaming. The Greek indicates that the noise Jesus makes sounds like the screeching of a crow. _(He's breaking down cognitively at this point because his personhood is being destroyed.)_ Keep in mind that the sun is still darkened and has been darkened for about 3 hours.

Which phrase came first is unclear from the text, because the sequence is derived from combining the accounts in two different gospels. The "it is finished" is followed by "bowed the head"; which appears to be the last thing that happened.

The last thing recorded to occur just before death is "yielding up the ghost (or spirit)". The language here is interesting because the word "yielding" is most commonly translated as "betrayed" (turned over). The "spirit" that's being "betrayed" is defined as "his spirit". This is not a reference to the Holy Spirit because it would have been phrased differently if it was.

So this "spirit" appears to be the human component that "houses" conscious awareness of God and if "it is finished" was a reference to a spiritual awareness of being forsaken; it would make sense that "betray" (his) "spirit" would be the last conscious act Jesus would surrender to before the Divine nature is rent from the human body, thus causing his death. The veil in the temple was rent top to bottom simultaneously with Jesus dying; so thus I think is the symbolic indicator of his Divinity "torn" from his body.

Now returning for a minute to the phrase concerning the tribulation being shortened or no flesh would be saved. The tribulation ended with the encounter of the angel of death. That was the shortening there of.

Right after this angel departs, comes Judas and the posse to arrest Jesus. Peter pulls out his sword (this is actually the second time this happens) and whacks off the ear of the high priest's servant. The first time this happens (this was the first encounter in the winter garden) Jesus heals this servant. The second time this happens (in Gethsemane) he doesn't. Now is this the same servant who had his ear cut off twice? I don't know. If it is though, this would give some credence as to why Jesus didn't heal him again. The name of the servant given in John is Malchus. This is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Melek; which means "king".

After this, Jesus turns to Peter and says: "Do you think that I can not pray to my Father (right now) and he will send me more than 12 legions of angels? But how than should the Scripture be fulfilled? So this is how it must be." This clues us in on the fact that Jesus is aware that he doesn't have to do this. He could call it quits and go back to heaven and that would be the end of it; thus no flesh would be saved. This hearkens back to Jesus praying if this cup could pass from him; "Not my will but Yours be done".

Keep in mind that Jesus's soul has already been severed from his personhood and is in Hades. The fact that this happened is a mercy to the rest of us, because what Jesus is indicating here; is that if this hadn't happened, he would have quit because the process of being forsaken was more than his soul could deal with. Now at this point, it does not seem to me that Jesus is consciously aware of what his soul is "feeling"; although he is aware of what happened to it.

So in turn this could be why the English translators said this angel "strengthened" him; because in a round about way that's exactly what happened. He was strengthened through the death of his soul.

 _ **So what happened when Jesus died?**_

His soul was delivered from hell, joined his spirit (that he'd "betrayed") and in his human nature he stood before the Father as proof that he'd made it out of this ordeal without sinning. Revelation 5 - He's the lamb slain who appears in heaven to open the seals.

Jeremiah 30 talks about the "time of Jacob's trouble". This is also equated to in eschatological speak as "the tribulation". What is important to note about what Jeremiah says concerning Jacob's trouble is that "Jacob" is delivered from them on account of his own obedience.

Matthew 24:29-31 talks about what happens "immediately after the tribulation". Sun darkened, moon does not give light - this happened from noon to 3 PM on the day of the crucifixion. The stars fall from heaven and the powers of heaven are shaken. This is probably a reference to not just the severance of the two natures; but in that process Jesus the man is forsaken by the rest of the Godhead; and because of what he/He was created as, this is why the powers of heaven are shaken.

The next verse: "They shall see the sign of the son of man in heaven…" This is something that entities in heaven are looking down upon. Thus probably why the sun was darkened and the moon did not give it's light. The creatures on earth can not see into heaven, but the entities in heaven can see what's going on down on earth; and what they are looking at is the crucifixion. They are watching Jesus die is what's going on.

How do we know this is what it means by "sign of the son of man in heaven"? Jesus makes a reference speaking to the Pharisees about "A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sigh, but the only sign given it will be the sign of the prophet Jonah; whereas Jonah was in the wale's belly 3 days and 3 nights, so shall the son of man be in the heart of the earth." Now we know when this happened. The 3 days and 3 nights started sundown teusday and ended when Jesus died Friday afternoon. So the only public display that occurred to this "wicked and adulterous generation" was the crucifixion.

The next part of this verse: "..then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." This verse is not talking about the return of Christ to earth; it's talking about the ascension into heaven upon his death. The tribes of the earth that mourn are all the unregenerate souls who are in Sheol and see this happen. Once Jesus leaves Sheol all the redeemed on the old testament side of the cross go with him. They got their 'ticket to ride' - there they go! Revelation picks this up as: "a multitude that no man could number who came out of great tribulation." This is the "first resurrection over which the second death has no power". This first resurrection also includes those who come after, who live and die in the interim between Pentecost and judgement day.

Interestingly to note too is that these are "of every kindred, tribe, tongue and nation". They aren't just Israelites from the old testament side of the cross. These are people from around the globe; which explaining how people can be redeemed based on the testimony of creation alone, without ever having heard Scripture, is the subject of a whole other Bible study.

So that's what all that means and it's all taking place from the perspective of what is witnessed in the spiritual realm in both directions; earthly souls looking up and heaven looking down.

* * *

 _OK - this is long enough - I'm stopping here; besides - my brain is full!_


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